William Read Scurry

William Read Scurry (10 February 1821-30 April 1864) was a Brigadier-General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and the namesake of Scurry County, Texas.

Biography
William Read Scurry was born in Gallatin, Tennessee in 1821, and he became a lawyer and district attorney in Texas after moving there in 1839. In 1844 and 1845, he represented Red River County in the Texas House of Representatives, and he promoted the annexation of the Republic of Texas by the United States. Scurry served in the US Army during the Mexican-American War, rising to the rank of Major in July 1846, and he was a delegate to the 1856 Democratic Party state convention and to the 1861 secession convention. Scurry became a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Confederate States Army at the start of the American Civil War in 1861, fighting in New Mexico from 1861 to 1862. On 1 January 1863, he assisted in the recapture of Galveston from the Union, and he led the Third Brigade of John George Walker's Texas Division during the Red River Campaign of 1864. Scurry was mortally wounded at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry in Arkansas on 30 April 1864, dying of his wounds. Scurry County in Texas is named for him.